A Galerian's Life
by cybermage303
Summary: After the destruction of Dorothy and her empire, there was Ash and the Last Galerians. As the heir to Dorothy's legacy, Ash must lead his comrades in battle against humanity. Join them in a typical mission, set in radiated and destroyed Michelangelo City, as they struggle to create a perfect future without the flawed humankind. Hints towards AshxNitro.
1. Chapter 1 - Cityscape

**Disclaimer: Galerians, its original storyline, characters, concepts etc. belong to Chinfa Kang/Sho-u Tajima and Polygon Magic/Enterbrain. No copyright infringement intended. **

**I do not own any of this. Only this fanfiction itself is written by me. **

**Summary: **This is my first ever Galerians fanfiction and I worked rather long and hard on it. It was originally a very long text file that I broke into parts to upload on this site, so forgive me if anything seems abrupt. It's a general fanfic about a typical day in the lives of the Last Galerians, during their war with humanity. It is a glimpse into the relationship between the four psychic-powered beings.

This is my interpretation of how I think they would act with each other, against their enemies, and in different situations. It takes place sometime (a few months or 1/2 years, doesn't really matter) before Galerians: Ash. There are most likely spoilers for Galerians: Ash and Galerians. It is mostly accurate to canon source material save for maybe one minor detail that may even be true. Understanding of the Galerians games is necessary to fully enjoy (or at least Galerians: Ash.) If you haven't experienced this great series (I don't blame you, it's very rare now-a-days) you can still understand it's storyline and characters via sites like Wikipedia and Youtube (gameplay and story cutscenes.)

There are hints here and there towards the pairing of Ash x Nitro, especially towards the end (this is not the minor detail mentioned above).

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

* * *

** A Galerian's Life**

**Chapter 1 - Cityscape  
**

The streets of Michaelangelo City are empty. Nothing truly human remains here, only the undetectable radiation that lingers. Only a few years ago, it was one of the most advanced cities on Earth. Now it's in ruins and has become the battleground between the human resistance that refuse extinction and the Galerians who wish to bring about said extinction. Four youths stand within a desolate street, an odd sight in a city that has lost everything.

"There seem to be no traces of life." said a young, silver-haired man. He had amber eyes, wore a leather and stainless steel suit, and had a very noticeable "A" that seemed to be burnt to his chest. "Heh...I expected nothing less." Recently, a scouting party looking for survivors had been mercilessly destroyed by this silver-haired man and his three allies. They were gifted with powerful psychic abilities and used them to slaughter anybody who got in their way. They were Galerians, the Last Galerians to be precise.

"No one left to kill? How boring." A feminine and slightly deep voice sounds out. "Ash, you told us we would be doing something fun today." The woman crosses her arms and looks to him, her odd frontal ponytail covering one half of her face. "I did. Those weak scouts were just an appetizer." Ash scans his comrade's form. She wore a metallic breastplate, shoulder length black gloves, matching thigh high stockings, and heels made of the same material as the armor she wore. Covering the sides and backs of her legs was a dress that exposed her from the waist down revealing panties which connected to the stockings below. Just like all the other articles of clothing, it was black. To the human world, her appearance would be considered strange but Nitro didn't care. Why should she care about a boring race that wouldn't be around for very long?

"Well I hope the next batch won't be so...flammable." The woman was disappointed how vulnerable her prey was to fire. Flesh is a very fragile thing and the Last Galerian knew this well. The scent of charred skin and metal was oh so familiar to her but she had wished that they would be more of a challenge. With no one to set ablaze, she would be bored. And Nitro despised boredom and boring things had a way of dying.

An irritated groan escapes from a raspy voiced man. "You drag us all the way out here JUST to deal with some scouts? Why couldn't we skip all those idiots and head for the main base?!" Parano never had much respect for Ash and constantly questioned his leadership. So many more important targets awaited his many knives and with Ash's tendency to leave out a few details, it only made him more angry. "Because Parano, if we recklessly charge into the base, we would be exposed and would have to deal with more targets than needed. Dealing with the scouting party would allow us to reach the base undetected and with the humans out of the loop. Not that you would care about anything else other than mindless killing..." Ash answers, and Parano becomes more agitated than before. Gritting his sharp-pointed teeth, he gives him a glare that would terrify anyone who hadn't worked with Parano. Spider was an exception but he was the youngest and the least experienced of the group so this was understandable. Dressed mostly in lime green, blue leather, and with a sort of blond mo-hawk on top of his head, the child speaks up.

"Please stop Parano...must you always fight with Ash? He only wants what's best for us." He tries to look at Parano but is unnerved by the gaze of his amber eyes. "Fighting with each other won't help at all." The knife wielding, brown and black clad man approaches the child slowly, adjusting his movements to seem more frightening to Spider. The single, orange goggle that covers his left eye and the cap with an ironic smiley face sticker gives off hints of Parano's bizarre and brutal personality. "What do you know about fighting, Spider? All you do is play with your insects all day long!" He yells at him, his voice becoming high-pitched at times. "They're not insects! Their arach-" "WHAT DOES IT MATTER!?" Parano shouts at him, making Spider jump back in shock. "Without all those robotic spiders, you would've of been DEAD by now!"

Spider doesn't respond. He only bore an expression of sadness and fear. He knew that he was the weakest of the four. His dislike of harming others being one of the main reasons for his lack of strength. The child's signature psychic ability was nothing too special, his power to command and understand spiders had it's advantages. However, it was overshadowed by Parano's knife skills and electricity manipulation, Nitro's pyrokinesis and psycho-illusions, and most of all, Ash's many destructive abilities that came with a body that was essentially a nuclear reactor. By ingesting uranium, he could bolster his power and can even go critical which ranged from spreading intense gamma rays to devastating small-scale nuclear explosions. Spider was simply outmatched.

"Parano, enough." Ash commands in a loud and stern voice. The two males turn towards him in response. "Although you may have killed more humans than Spider ever has, your reckless and careless nature toward the rest of us ruins our combat effectiveness at times." Parano becomes appalled at what he is hearing but decides to hear him out, as opposed to his usual defiance. "Spider's swarm has come of use multiple times in distracting the enemy and causing chaos among squadrons of soldiers. With chaos comes the lack of vigilance, and the lack of vigilance is a plea for a quick death. They are other forms of warfare other than brute force, Parano."

Parano was at a loss for words. Not only was he talked down to by Ash, but he was made a fool of to the others. "Wh-Wha...I...ARGH!" He walks off from the others in embarrassment, catching a glimpse of Nitro silently laughing at him. After he disappeared among the city debris, she expresses her amusement out loud. "Hehehe... Ahhh, Parano..always good for a quick laugh. His ego is so easily bruised." "He'll come around." Ash says unworried, having been through many an argument with Parano.

Ash ran the Last Galerians like a well oiled machine but Parano's constant rebellion was annoying. There was no need for punishment as none of his tantrums lead up to anything to seriously worry about. Parano was skilled with knife play regardless, the four were truly unique within the psychic army. The majority of his troops were easy-to-create Rabbits, Arabesque and other creations made from the Family Program or using data from it. Using what remained of Dorothy's legacy, he made advancements in technology and genetic engineering that neither Dorothy or the humans could reach. In truth, he was what Dorothy left behind when she was destroyed and is responsible for his creation, but that doesn't mean Ash respects her. He in fact despises her and what she done to him over the years. But with all the suffering he endured, Ash became more powerful than neither him or his mother could fathom. Thinking of Dorothy was something the young man hated but happened now and again, often he would forget to prevent her from occupying his mind.

He turns to Spider, seemingly on the verge of tears and attempts to break him out of his weakened state. "Spider, there is no time for tears. This ruined, human-infested world preys on the weak. It has no remorse whatsoever." Ash speaks with no sympathy at all, bringing him the harsh truth of the situation instead of a pep talk. "Sadness has no place here." Spider looks at Ash and gives him a nod of agreement and seems to return to his normal self. "...Sorry, Ash." Spiders says, feeling guilty for his weakness. "I'll try not to let it happen it again." Ash gave no response and just stared for a few seconds. There was some sort of innocence about him that the majority of humanity obviously lacked. He wanted the Last Galerians to get along with each other most of all, a decent intent. He was mostly cold, but Spider reminded Ash of himself during his youth and found himself sympathizing with him at times.

"Let's go. We've wasted enough time here." Ash, Nitro, and Spider start walking forward, passing piles of debris. "Uh...Ash?" Nitro asks, "Yes?" "What about Parano?" Ash stops in place and answers "Oh...right. You coming Parano?" The knife wielder was nowhere in sight but Ash could sense his presence. "If you want, we could leave you here by yourself. Of course, they'll won't be much to kill, but..." Suddenly, boots are heard crushing glass fragments and small rocks. Parano appears and rejoins the group, with a frustrated look on his face and quietly cursing under his breath.

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. Chapter 2 - Encounter

**Chapter 2 - Encounter**

They move throughout the ruins of the destroyed city until they reach what appears to be a desolate building where humans once lived. "An apartment complex..." Nitro says. "We'll go through here. I sense humans nearby, they must've sent troops to look for those scouts we destroyed." The silver-haired man says, with Parano approaching up front where Nitro and Ash are. "Why can't we just kill 'em instead? It's been too long since I saw the sight of blood..." His last couple of words being dragged out in that raspy voice of his. "No need to fight more than necessary." The man becomes annoyed by his leader's answer but decides that it isn't worth starting a fuss over. "Argh...fine."

Parano and Ash open the double doors, pushing one door each. Inside it was mostly dark, only being illuminated by the partial sunlight of the clouded sky outside "I can't see a thing!" Spider says, holding his pet arachnid Leo in his hand. "I bet even Leo can't see anything either." Although his sight was blackened, Ash could still sense his comrade's presence with his psychic abilities and turns to her direction. "It is rather dark in here." Nitro smirks slightly in the darkness. "Need a light?" Not even seconds after saying that, a blazing fireball appears within the palm of Nitro's gloved hand, floating there effortlessly. With her face and the other's visible, she aims her amused, smirked face to Ash. "Thank you." he says, smiling back.

The main lobby of the building was ruined and dusty, complete with cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling. On the floor was a chandelier, at one time quite expensive but now would probably be worth less than dirt. The style of the lobby and the entire building itself was reminiscent of the 1920's of Northern America but with the inclusion of various bits of modern technology that would be considered space-age during those times. It was a common sight however, as most places in the 26th century looked like this or was a derivative of that type of architecture. On the sides of the entrance doors were two mailboxes, a set of stairs next to each of them, and directly in front was an elevator to reach the second and third floors of the apartment.

"It doesn't work." Parano says, after pressing the button on the elevator panel. Revealing one of his long knives he used for battling his adversaries, he jams it between the two steel doors and tries to pry it open using his other arm. "Grrr...COME ON!" After a little struggle, the way is open but the elevator is wrecked and unusable. "Damn it!" Parano says, slightly frustrated that he wasted his time for nothing. Ash walks to the opened door and peeks his head out to look up the shaft. The door at the top is open but the elevator itself is destroyed. "Hmm...now that's a shame. I suppose we should take the stairs then." Nitro giggles slightly to Ash's proposal. "Stairs? Who needs stairs?" Taking out her Beeject, she loads it with a blue vial of the PPEC known as D-Felon, a drug that allows anti-gravity abilities. Using a skull-ringed hand she pushes the black neck guard down and aims the nozzle of the gun to her pale flesh. Pulling the trigger, she is slammed with a surge of pain that's strong enough to push her head back in response. Although grunting slightly in pain, it didn't phase Nitro all too much. She had learned to accept and enjoy pain itself, and not rejecting it like the rest of humanity. It had made her stronger as a Galerian and very deadly to anyone unlucky enough to cross her.

"Did you forget why humans are no match for us, Ash?" she says, walking to the elevator door. Ash and Parano step aside as the woman climbs on the top of destroyed elevator and glances slightly at the open door at the top. Spreading her arms out she lowers them slightly down, both in between her sides and her front. Her dress begins to float up slightly and then completely as she fully levitates her self from the surface of the elevator. Although Ash had seen it dozens of times, he always enjoyed watching her in flight. Her single ponytail that would usually cover one half of her face would sometimes blow in the wind, revealing glimpses of the entirety of her visage. The black dress that would cover the sides and backs of her legs would leave them exposed as they become suspended in the air. It was a beautiful sight to behold, especially while she was exterminating humans and their machines with her pyrokinesis.

"Unless you want to waste D-Felon, I suggest you grab on." Nitro says to Ash, perplexing him slightly with her question. "Grab? Where?" "My legs." Although she can move things effortlessly, she wasn't using her full power here, the weight of a person could still weigh her down a bit. "Don't worry. My legs can handle it." Nitro was rather skilled in dancing, something she tends to employ with her fire abilities during battle. Many a pirouette has made her legs very strong and durable, able to take constant abuse without giving out on her. Despite the weirded out look that appeared on his face, Ash grabs onto her right leg. The weight of Ash's body and the stainless steel suit that covered most of him didn't seem to phase her at all. "Follow us up." Ash says to the other two and Nitro prepares to ascend. "Hold tight."

Spider lets out a small, sincere chuckle as he sees Ash hang from Nitro's leg, finding the sight somewhat funny. Parano only gives a shake of his head, finding it ridiculous instead. "Let's go, Leo!" While he holds his pet close to him, Spider reaches his hand above his head. With all his digits spread out, a web appears from his hand and shoots up to the ceiling of the elevator shaft. Using the web formed from psychic energy, the youth shoots up to the top just like a real spider would. After Spider has reached the upper floor, Parano whips out the other of his long knives and sticks them both on the metal surface above the lower elevator door. Using them like ice picks, the man climbs up until his back is facing the top door. He jumps and turns mid-air to land almost flawlessly on the rugged floor. Getting up from his place, he puts away his blades and faces the Last Galerians.

Scanning his surroundings, Parano comments on the area's appearance. "This place looks gutted out and drained." Truly, the third floor of the apartment was in terrible condition. The rug was cut up, wallpaper leaving tons of bare wall, glass shattered or broken, doors either broken, smashed in, or missing entirely. "Ugh...glad I don't live here." Nitro says, arms crossed and disgusted by how much of a mess it is. Parts of the ceiling itself were destroyed, revealing the dreary, gray skies above. "Hmph...an example of true firepower." Ash says proudly and with a satisfied look on his face. The Last Galerians were used to this type of ruin having been the ones to start the war in the first place, but it still didn't mean it wasn't fun to comment on. "How much longer do we have to be here Ash?" The youngest of the group asked, afraid of getting hurt by the many sharp pieces of glass and other hazards. "Almost there." He aims his sights at the middle hallway in front of them and starts to go ahead, the others following behind.

Then, Ash hears something at last-minute and looks down at the source of the noise. "GRENADE!" The three instinctively jump away and take cover as Ash puts up his psychic shield at last-minute, protecting himself from the blast and hail of shrapnel. Seemingly out of nowhere, a squadron of troops pour all from many apartment rooms up ahead, giving a multitude of orders as they take position against the four psychics. "It's an ambush!" Ash says. "You didn't see this coming!?" Parano yells out amidst all the gunfire, taking cover behind a flipped table. He doesn't answer and jumps behind some cover with the rest of his allies, firing a shock wave at an advancing pair of troops. Despite all the sudden chaos, a smirk appears on Nitro's face. "Finally..._now_ it's starting to interesting!" They all reveal their Beejects and prepare for combat by injecting their PPECs. Ash removes part of the armor that covers his neck and loads the Nalcon in him, grunting in pain but quickly returns to his cold exterior. Spider winces and yells out briefly after injecting Bustanor, Nitro once again becomes invigorated by Red, and the pain of the Breakaron fuels Parano's rage more than anything.

"Spread out!" Ash orders, a rather easy one as the third floor had many missing apartment walls, making it a rather spacious area to battle. "They've separated! Snuff 'em out!" One solider said as they begin to fire at the four's general directions. Ash sees about four soldiers move in to fires upon him and Ash responses by holding out his right arm and his hand begins to collect light, with his left hand clutching around the elbow. "Fire! Fire!" The humans say but before they can even take aim, they are blasted by a barrage of white lasers shots, ripping through their worthless armor as if it was nothing. "AAGGGHH!" Their screams are quick as they hit the floor and quickly die from the Last Galerian's assault. Observing the charred corpses of his allies, he turns his head to Ash. "Y-You son of a BITCH!" Enraged, he fires blindly but most of the bullets miss and those that hit are deflected by Ash's shield. Then a series of clicks are heard. "What?!" His rifle runs out of bullets and Ash seizes his chance. "Fool." A glowing ball of blue plasma charges in the silver-haired man's hand and he quickly throws it, frying the soldier's torso and gun arm completely. He, of course, falls dead instantly.

"HAHAHA! YOU'RE ALL DEAD! DEAD!" Parano yells out in a blood frenzied rage, the blood of a sliced solider coating his twin knives. He licks the victims precious life blood from his blades, savoring the taste of his recent kill. "Kill that freak!" A troop says to his comrades, the group release a couple of bursts of lead. With inhuman reflexes, Parano dodges the attack with a jump and a flip mid-air, landing in front of his enemies. "You want to lose your eyes too, huh?" He says in that raspy, intimidating voice of his. His two long blades become charged with electricity, tendrils sparking around them. The Galerian swiftly strikes one solider with his right, carving a fatal wound in his chest and releasing a steak of blood across Parano. Ducking behind the gunfire of the soldier to his left, he quickly slices off his right leg and causes him to fall. "AAHHH! MY LEG!" Too busy tending to his bleeding severed limb, Parano ignores the human and sets his sight on the last target. Taking aim, he fires his rifle at the sharp toothed man but he simply dodges each of his blasts effortlessly.

"He's too fast!" Laughing sinisterly to himself, Parano lunges at the solider and stabs him with his charged-up blade, shocking his entire body with deadly electricity. He violently shakes and steams up as many bolts of energy free themselves from his body. The solider becomes electrocuted and falls to his knees, with Parano sliding out the weapon from his chest before he falls down. Looking at all the blood he has split, a malicious and sinister smile forms across his face. There were corpses, and to Parano corpses meant that he could indulge in one of his favorite past times. He takes out a smaller, curvy shaped knife and sets his sights on one of the soldier's eyes...

"We're losing too many men! We have to-RRAAGGH!" One of the members of the squad yells but his words are cut short as he is overwhelmed by blistering flames. "IT BURNS! IT BURNS!" "Oh, stop it. Is complaining all you people do?" Nitro watches as her victim tosses and turns in pain, amused at the destruction of yet another boring thing. Turning away from the fire, she leaves the room and enters the hallway, only to be greeted by more boredom. Shaking her head slightly, she lazily raises a hand towards them and flicks her fingers as if to shoo them away. Instantly, a wall of fire rises from the ground and moves forward through the hallway, quickly increasing in size as it goes. Caught by surprise, the men try to escape it by turning back but they cannot run from the women's power. They futility try to pat down the flames but intense heat and fire burns their skin and slowly melts their armor and weapons. Their screams fill the third floor and every one of them fall to their deaths, each making a gruesome slamming noise on impact.

Crossing her arms, Nitro walks over to her handiwork and examines the carnage. "Oh my...what have I done?" Her voice has no sympathy or guilt whatsoever, the woman's tone mocking their fiery demise. Nitro then crosses over the corpses of the men, trying not to get her stainless-steel heels dirtied by their ashy remains. As a Galerian and pyrokinetic, blood and ash are commonplace but Nitro still found it annoying when it tarnished her elegant appearance. Although it didn't hinder her battle prowess, she did like to try to avoid such incidents when it was convenient.

A lone soldier slowly steps back into a destroyed apartment room, away from the rest of the psychics that mercilessly annihilated his squad. Shaking in fear and looking around his entire surroundings in paranoia, he plans to try to escape such a failed ambush. Even with his fully loaded assault rifle, the young man still feels a sense of impending doom, that his death is inevitable. "Huh?" For some reason, the solider has a hard time to trying to move and finds that he is stuck to what appears to be an over sized spider web. "What!" He struggles to break free but the strands of web cling to him as if it was apart of his skin. Looking down at his knife situated on his chest, he tries to unsheathe it but it is no use. "Damn, it! Come on..." As he begins panicking, a small spider begins to crawl on the floor in front of him. "It looks like we have a new friend to play with, Leo..."

A voice sounds from the shadows and a child dressed in lime green and blue leather appears before the entrapped person. "Wha-You're one of the..." "Last Galerians? Yes, I'm one of them. My name's Spider." He lays still on the ceiling, like a real spider and eyes his enemy. "You don't care much for little creatures, do you?" "What the hell are you talking about?!" The soldier asks the child, the fear obvious in his voice. "How many innocents lives did you take just because you thought they were a bother? You enjoy squashing spiders and little bugs, don't you?" An angry expression appears on Spider's face and he releases himself from the ceiling and lands on the floor with his pet, Leo. He had remember him a few minutes, during the firefight. While Spider was hidden in the shadows, he observed this monster mercilessly stomp out a harmless cellar spider in cold blood. It was understandable to be shaken by its appearance but to resort to such violence was unacceptable.

"Well, if you like picking on things smaller than you, how about you try to squash MY spiders..." Crawling out from crevices, holes, open doors, windows, and just about everything, a mass of mechanical arachnids enter into the room. The webbed soldier looks right and left to see nothing but four-legged robots. Quickly, he darts his eyes to his rifle and struggles to aim it properly and begins firing rounds despite problems. "AAHHH!" He shouts has he picks off many robotic spiders but it is a futile attempt. Realizing his barrage is not having any real effect, he fires one last burst at the young child. "Die!" Holding out his arms in front of him, a shield appears and blocks all the rounds away from Spider and Leo. The hoard begins to climb onto him and they begin to attach themselves to his skin. "Ahh! Ahh! Get off of me! GET OFF OF ME!" Then, they begin to burrow into the soldiers flesh, bypassing any fabric and armor and geysers of blood begin to erupt from him. "AHHHHHH! PLEASE GOD, STOP!" It felt similar to a drill but how they were eating away at his body was not the first thing on his mind now. "I'M SORRY! I WON'T HURT ANYTHING EVER AGAIN! PLEASE STOP! AGGGGGHHHH!" His cries fall upon deaf ears as this was not the first time the boy had heard this. Spider does and says nothing and simply walks away with his companion as his friends enjoy the little snack he caught for them.

**End of Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 3 - Plotting

**Chapter 3 - Plotting**

The general area was pretty much silent and the Last Galerians regroup after their victory against their enemies. "Is everyone alright?' Ash asks, and they respond. "Of course." Nitro puts her arm casually against her hip. "Leo and I are fine." The child says, with his friend resting on his shoulder "What do you think?" Parano says, crouched in front of a corpse and holding out a bloody knife. At the tip of it, is a green colored eyeball. "That was rather sudden, but we handled them effortlessly." Ash says to his comrades, his voice sounding victorious and proud. "We could have used a little warning though." Parano points out, head turned away from the leader and focused instead on programing the circuit in the corpse's eye socket. "Maybe I should have scanned the area beforehand. At the time, I thought I didn't need to."

Nitro begins to walk toward the armored man and begins to circle him slightly. "Ash...wouldn't you say that was...reckless?" Her last word alluding in tone to his recent criticism of Parano. He turns his head slightly to the woman and glances with the corners of his eyes. "Perhaps." He says. "_Perhaps_? Mm hmm..." Her voice has playfulness to it and she slightly turns and smiles to Ash, her hair covering half of face again. "What are you getting at Nitro?" The leader begins to catch on to what she is trying to say. "Oh nothing...it's nothing..." Nitro begins to innocently downplay the thing while throwing her hands out in the air and then closing them together. Although it may seem like she was trying to point out hypocrisy, in reality she was just merely playing with him. She enjoys pointing out little flaws or mistakes he makes here and there, knowing how much of a perfectionist he is. The fact that Ash had the most powerful mind in the world yet still made a few mundane mistakes now and again was something that always amused her. Not in a malicious way of course, despite her personality she viewed Ash with high respects and enjoyed spending time with him. To her, he was one of the few things in the world that didn't bore her.

She would never notice the way he made her felt at times. And when she did, it caught her by surprise._ "Strange..." _she would think to herself, that someone as numb to everything as her could feel something other than hatred and despair. It was completely different from anything else she had felt and Nitro couldn't explain it. It brought her a joy completely unlike what she felt when she destroyed something that bored her, or when she tossed a one-liner at Parano for kicks. There was a blissful, pureness to it that felt good and perhaps even...real? _"Reality? I wish. Would be nice though..." _This feeling, whatever it was, she wanted to feel more of it but Nitro didn't want to get her hopes up, if it was even possible for her to hope. _"Is this real? Or am I just lying to myself? Hmm..." _She, of course, kept these new feelings to herself - as she did most things.

"Well, I'll try to not let that happen again." Ash was aware of Nitro's playfulness, but he sometimes had troubling telling if she was serious or not, his general no-nonsense and work-minded attitude was to blame for this. Ash turns away from Nitro, who had a slight smile on her face and set his sights on Parano, who was putting the finishing touches on his next creation. "There...it's ready..." Parano says, standing from his lowered position. As he puts away the small knife made for eyes and little pieces of machinery, the corpse reanimates and springs to life. "Uuuuggghhh..." It's moans are something out of human zombie horror films that used to be a thing of fantasy. But now, in the 26th century, this was no longer the case. "Hehehehe...I implanted circuits in all the eyes of these corpses. They'll be surprise waiting for anyone who tries to follow." Ash was surprised by Parano's sudden decision to think ahead. "Good work. It'll buy us some time." Parano turned his head a little at Ash's words, he wasn't used to being praised by him. Or being praised in general for that matter. A weirded out and perhaps slightly annoyed expression appeared on the knife man's face. Ash too, felt out-of-place at his words but he felt a sharp decision like that deserved praise, no matter who it came from. "...Anyway, they'll attack any humans that come this way. They're kinda sloppy...but you can't expect much from a corpse."

Spider walks up to the two during their exchange of words and asks Ash a question. "Where to now, Ash?" The silver-haired man looks down at the child and instantly remembers the plan. "From here we enter the large sewage drain that is right next to this apartment. We enter through the sewers and we should find ourselves within a part of the tunnels that connects to the base. It's abandoned and because of this, it shouldn't have any real defenses at all." Spider begins to see the plan come together in his head and he nods in agreement "Going through the sewers and into a base...sounds cool!"

"Well as much as the idea of sloggin' through the sewers disgusts me, It's probably the best course of action." Nitro disliked getting herself dirty but the idea of a sudden attack out of nowhere appealed to her. "They also won't know what hit them either." "Got no problem with that!" Parano says. "When you're in my kind of work, getting dirty is second nature!" Parano's single greatest enjoyment was killing and when you kill someone, you are bound to get dirty. Well, it was possible to keep blood and pieces of flesh and organs from getting on you but where's the fun in that? "Alright then, let's go." The four reached the grassy area behind the apartment after descending from a blown up part of the third floor wall. A metal fence blocks their way but it is no match for Parano's quick slashes. An opening is formed and the four go through it, electricity still sparking from parts of destroyed fencing. They slide down across the sloped end of the drain and find themselves at the bottom of it, among countless debris and a small trail of water. Entering the large entrance of the tunnel, the four are now within the sewers of the city.

**End of Chapter 3**


	4. Chapter 4 - Underground

**Chapter 4 - Underground**

"I smell terrible. I desperately need to bathe after this mission." She knew it was inevitable, but that still didn't stop Nitro from complaining about the sewer stench when she got into the raw sewage itself. Parano turned to and scoffed at her. "You complain about everything! It's just a little sewer water, get over it!" "Well that's easy for you to say, Parano, you smell like a rotting corpse 24/7. Of course sewer water won't bother you." Nitro's comment ripped through Parano and he turned to her again in anger. "WHAT!" Spider laughed a little to himself at what Nitro said. "Shut up, Spider! It's not funny!" "Parano, you don't understand the meaning of the word 'stealth', do you?" Although the three's back and forth was amusing, Ash still didn't want to risk the chance of anyone hearing their approach. "Keep your voice down." The underground tunnels were very dark and the liquid the four were sloshing through was thick with the city's many types of waste. Fortunately, due to Dorothy's many advancements in genetic engineering, Galerians were gifted with extremely powerful immune systems. It was one of the many advantages Ash's race had over the humans, but it was nothing compared to the ability to resist the aftereffects of their most powerful weapon, the atomic bomb. "How much further?" Nitro asks, her voice growing weary and irritated from traveling through the foul-smelling sewage. "It should be right around this corner." Ash answers.

As they turn the corner, they face a metal door with a black and yellow bar across the middle of it. "This is it." Ash says. "Finally!" Nitro says while she wastes no time and wraps her fingers around the door's handle bar. She pulls it but it doesn't open. Fully expecting to escape the foul-smelling sewer system, the black-haired woman looks down to the handle bar and finds that there is a locking mechanism attached to the right of it. "Damn. It." Nitro shakes her head in disappointment, her ponytail following slightly. She presses against the door in defeat and slams the side of her left fist against the door in frustration. "It seems to require a key to open." Ash observes, noticing the keyhole underneath the glowing red light on the lock. "We ain't got a key." Parano says, stating what was on everyone's mind. "No need for one." Nitro turns her head around to Ash and gets up from her lowered position against the door, making way for the steel-clad leader. Smiling slightly, he pulls his hand out in front of the lock with his fingers spread out. Summoning his psychic abilities, Ash charges the device with energy and with a spark, the red light goes blue. "There. I short circuited the lock and forced the door to open."

Without even entering the doorway, you could see a ladder with a little light beaming from the top downward. Ash enters first without a word with Nitro following behind, shaking her heels of leftover water that had annoying soaked through her black stockings. She lets out an annoyed and disgusted groan under her breath while doing this. Spider who was right behind Nitro and hadn't stepped from the sewage and on to the dry concrete was hit by little drops water. "Hey! Nitro, watch it! You'll hit Leo!" He says while holding out his arms in front of his face to try to shield his pet and himself. The woman turns her head around to him, unaware that he was behind her. "Oh...sorry, Spider. And Leo." Her voice wasn't very sympathetic but it wasn't sarcastic either. Her expression was very much the same. The brown and black capped man looks to the lock device, amber eyes parallel to the blue light. "You know, _I _could of done that Ash."

The four stand within an area that looked like some sort of storage room or place to contain maintenance tools. Crates, pipes, roadblocks, spare searchlights, things like that. "The base is right at the top, right?" Parano asks. "Indeed it is." Ash doesn't even turn to him, eyes focusing on nothing in particular. He reaches into his holster and takes out his Beeject. The leader turns to his comrades and loads a yellow cylinder into the device. "We should prepare. The humans are right above us and most of the soldiers should be asleep right now." He cocks the gun-shaped syringe back and undoes his neck guard, revealing his flesh. "Security is low and it is the perfect time to strike." He presses the nozzle to his neck and pulls the trigger, injecting the Bustanor rather painfully into his system. The other three follow suit and inject their PPECs and then proceed to make other preparations. Parano takes out his knives and begins to sharpen them against one another and places them back into their holsters. "It's time, Leo." Spider says to his parter and he pulls out a couple of green spheres. Placing them on the floor, they come to life and four legs extend from them. He inspects them and sees that that their are no problems and places the robotic spiders back into his pockets. Nitro stretches her long legs and begins to warm up her body for the battle ahead. She would undoubtedly use her classic pirouette in this fight, leg cramps were something she didn't need now. Dancing was something she found herself adept at...even though most never lived to see her stop moving. The lady relished the chance to end a couple hundred or so boring and trivial things from this world. A sinister smile appears on her face as she thinks of the many ways you could set someone on fire.

Ash could sense the other three's feelings. Parano's insatiable desire for bloodshed, Spider's reluctance for fighting, and Nitro's hatred of nearly everything and the happiness that sparked in her soul at the thought of immolating the weak and the boring. His own thoughts were towards the future, how the removing of this human base would be a another step forward to a world without the self-destructive human scum. A perfect and pure haven for the Last Galerians and their many followers is what he desired most. There was no chance of both races living in harmony and Ash was pretty certain neither groups wanted that. They saw his kind and him as unholy abominations, beings with frightening paranormal powers that threatened everything they held dear. While Ash viewed them as obsolete entities that must be exterminated for the good of the planet. Their continued existence would only serve as a liability for an already mostly destroyed Earth. It was true that Ash's opening play in the war was many nuclear weapons and the radiating of the atmosphere had laid waste to both the planet and the many types of innocent animal and plant life, it however had a great effect to his war effort. By making the air the humans live off of toxic to them, he could keep the majority of their kind cowering in fallout shelters while the Galerians can go about wherever they please due to their tolerance for radiation.

Nitro was almost as critical of the humans as Ash was. She thought they were futility struggling to save their race, which see saw as worthless, and to protect the world, which see saw as boring. _"Worthless weaklings."_, she often found herself thinking. The world that existed now was one of sin, filled with selfish people and pointless strife. What was the point of positive thinking and actions in a world that was destined to destroy itself anyway? The woman also questioned if reality was truly real. To her, reality was so horrible and filled with grief and sadness that was no point believing in one in the first place. Death was the only thing you could be certain of and pain was proof that you were alive. Nitro's illusionary gift was remarkable, she could create fantasy worlds were any and everything can be realized. She had roamed around her "getaways" from time to time, as an escape from the bleakness of reality. But she could never truly enjoy it as much as she wanted to because despite how beautiful her worlds might of been, it was still nothing more than an illusion. There was nothing worse than lying to yourself.

She was aware of the new world Ash had planned for his kind, how it would be devoid of the plague that was humanity. What they do to the world and to each other was a big reason for her lack of belief in reality. It sounded nice but she wondered if it would fall into the same destructive cycle that the human world is currently trapped in. Nitro had never really questioned Ash as a leader, his competence, power, and ability to lead was real. He was the only person she had any kind of faith or trust in, Spider was too weak and Parano had disliked his comrades and was hard to coöperate with. _"Funny...belief is pointless yet I want to fight along with...him." _Nitro pondered, surprised at all the feelings Ash gave her. These feelings meant something as she was a blunt person who would delightedly tell someone what was wrong with them. It was just all the horrors she witnessed and suffered through had made her apathetic towards most things and accepted misery as a natural part of life. Hope wasn't a word Nitro was familiar with so she had doubts of Ash's plan. Regardless, she still fought alongside him and the Last Galerians. _"A world without pain or misery...is that even possible?" _His dream is something she wanted to see play out. If not for him then at least for herself.

**End of Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 5 - Assault

**Chapter 5 - Assault**

"Alright, let's go." Ash commands in a calm, yet stern voice. The three end what they were previously doing and react without question. "I'll take point." He approaches the ladder and he grabs onto it. As he climbs up to the hatch above, Ash's allies followed suit. The leader was facing the hatch, the only thing separating the Last Galerians and the enemy base above. Holding a palm to the rusted metal, he begins to collect information from the outside world. "All clear." Confirming the fact there was no one waiting on top and nothing blocking their way, he removes the cover and feels the cold night air. Ash climbs out from the tunnel and meets flesh with concrete, his hands feeling the rough surface of pavement. It was unpleasing and the Galerian much rather preferred the metallic surfaces of refinery. He stands up from the ground but retains a low profile, as to not alert any guards patrolling.

Ash looks down to the tunnel and lends a hand to Nitro and he helps her to the ground. She winces in pain as her legs meet the pavement just as Ash's palms had seconds ago. However, the stockings that cover her legs do very little to shield her, made more for maneuverability than protection. The woman let's go of Ash's hand as he reaches for Parano. "Ow." Nitro says in a dull tone as she rubs her gloved hands against her knees, trying to soothe the minor pain. "Damn, it's cold..." Parano says quietly, his exposed torso was feeling the effects of the bitting wind. "Well, we won't be still for long..." Ash says. Spider is the last one to come out of the ladder and he holds Leo tightly in his pocket, holding his hand on top of it to provide his warm to the arachnid. "Chilly, isn't it Leo?"

The four stay crouched behind a large, metal crate that most likely held various supplies for the base. Parano could smell the scent of human within the base. The countless and countless amounts of lives he took had trained Parano's senses to detect the scent of his natural enemy. If there were humans, there was blood. He longed to free the crimson liquid from the confines of the veins that entrapped them. "Hehehe...I can already smell them!" His voice is full of eagerness and wanting to spill their blood and he had hoped that Ash hadn't planned for this to be entirely a stealth mission. He loathed subtlety, Parano never gave much thought to his job. Just go in there and hack, flay, slice, and hemorrhage as much as you kind. Humans were weak fools that won't worth any thoughts or words. The only time they were of use was as one of his many, mindless cyborgs.

This was one of the many reasons he got into conflict with Ash many times. Their ways of warfare were completely different. Ash was a thinker, constantly planning and playing out simulations of battles in his head to find the best possible outcome to a situation. But a lot of the times, the most effective outcome didn't include unneeded kills, well they were at least unneeded to Ash. To the sharp-toothed psychic, one was boring and one was fun. He loved to kill, to see them bleed and suffer, to beg for mercy. He had known that Ash and Nitro enjoyed it as well, but it wasn't as important to them as it was to him. For some reason Parano never cared to think about, he only truly felt alive in the fury of combat. The clashing of knives, the sparking of electricity, the ripping of skin, the cries of agony, and the blood that accompanied it was all apart of him.

Spider looks to see Parano's crazed expression and it unnerves him. Out of all the Last Galerians, he thought Parano was the meanest. The other two had their moments, but Ash had told Spider often that it was necessary, "It's either them or us." the child remembered Ash telling him. He could never make himself be fine with harming others, regardless if they were humans or not. Nitro's fire conjuring was frightening as well but she never really picked on him like Parano did. He hated being alone with him, because then he could do whatever he'd please and no one would be there to stop him.

"Hey Ash..." A raspy voice escapes through vicious fangs. "How long are we gonna be waiting here? I'm freezing my ass off!" "A little more..." Ash was eying about threes guards who were coming together in one group. He knew exactly what type of armaments they had, high-powered assault rifles, gray and brown camouflage that worked well in urban environments, fragmentation grenades, body armor, helmets equipped with built-in oxygen filters and lens with a variety of capabilities. Obviously ready for combat, but they were lacking the radiation resistant clothing that had just came out awhile ago. It was a response to his pollution of the planet but it only delayed the inevitable. White light glowing in his palm, Ash calmly gives an order. "Now!" Jumping out from the cover of the supply create, Ash unleashes a blindly bright laser of energy that annihilates the three soldiers. "INTRUDER! INTRUDER! The enemy is here!" A voice sounds out from somewhere close by. "So much for subtlety..." Nitro says as the three others join up with Ash.

A blaring alarm sounds in the base and what cover they had before is gone. They were now in the heat of combat. The woman catches the glimpse of a soldier coming out of a guard tower with a long-range rifle in is hand. Lining his scope up with the head of the woman, he pulls the trigger. She simply smirks and simply teleports away, leaving blue particles in her wake. "I missed!?" The sniper says and he them feels a tapping of a finger on his back. He turns around and sees a female with a delighted expression. "Hi there!" she says with enthusiasm simultaneously raising her hand to him. Realizing it was his escaped kill, he lunges at her with the back of his gun but is almost instantly set ablaze. "AHHHHH!" He moves around in pain and falls over the railing and plummets to his doom. Nitro edges to the railing, looks down and smiles in amusement, arms crossed as usual. She teleports again with a flash of light and rejoins the others.

Ash had defeated enemy after enemy as they approached the intruders, unable to manage his chain of shock wave attacks. "Worthless humans! Not even trying to change tactics!" Nitro appears to the man's right and looks to the pile of dead bodies and then turns her head to Ash. "So what I missed?" "Nothing much." A four-wheeled, all-terrain vehicle drives up into the storage area of the base and unloads it's automated, mounted machine gun at the Last Galerians. The four moved out of the gunfire's direction while Parano instead chooses to jump on top of a container in close proximity to the vehicle. He eyes a few soldiers coming out of the extra driver seats and he reaches for his twin blades. His brings them atop his head with both crossing steel with one another. He laughs to himself in that disturbing high-pitched voice of his and purplish-blue electricity bolts charge from his blades and into the sky. "There! Atop the crate! Take him out!" An armed soldier says and they fire their rifles at Parano, the ATV joining in the assault as well. But the bullets are deflected by the blue shield that surrounded the knife man. Looking at the troops, a twisted grin appears on his face and he swiftly brings down his two weapons. Almost in an instant, the ATV was exploded by a powerful lightning bolt, taking out the accompanying soldiers next to it. "HAHAHA!" Parano laughs with insane joy at the sight of scrapped metal and burnt bodies

The group then moves deeper into the base, past the burning wreckage. Positioned soldiers wait for them and keep them back with lead. "I'll handle them!" Spider says with some confidence. He joins his hands together and manifests a steam of psychic threading at the enemy. "It's hard to move!" one says "What did that kid do?!" another says. Spider then charges up a sphere of green energy, focusing all of his mental energy despite not being very strong. With a yell, Spider flings the fast moving orb of energy and it impacts on the target. "ARRRGHH!" It rips through them as if they were paper and their gore coats the pavement of the base, white threads falling slowly to the ground with it. The blond child begins to catch his breath and looks over what he has done. He is shocked at what he's seeing but then turns his attention to Parano, who called out to him. "Come on! Stay around there all day and you'll end up just like those poor saps!" Quickly regaining himself, he moves forward with his allies.

"Ash, where are we supposed to go!" Spider asks and he responds, batting his head left and right on the lookout for enemies. "We're supposed to clear out this base. That's it" Nitro is assuming a battle-ready position, legs spread to the sides with her gloved hands set ablaze. "So just a demo job, huh?" "That's the idea." Seeing a good number of reinforcements coming their way, Nitro comes up with a sublime thought "Unless you wanna get burned...I suggest you stand back." She says to the others and they quickly realize what she's about to do. The three males move out of her general vicinity and Nitro casually walks up to the approaching squad. She sends her left arm in the air with her right curving away from her stomach. One leg on the floor with her back heel off from the ground while the other foot hangs in air behind the first. The dancer begins to turn and spin on her one foot, quickly gaining speed as she goes. Whirling about in a dizzying speed, she raises her loose leg up to the other's knee and has now entered into a full pirouette. Not just any pirouette, Nitro was known to use her fire weaving skills in conjunction with her dance abilities.

As she spun, fast-moving fireballs begin to shoot out from Nitro's body, flames dancing with her until they slam into the enemy soldiers. An almost uncountable about of flares spring out from her, incinerating the foolish beings who dared to challenge her. She begins to slow down almost instinctively as the last squad member falls, only their burnt bodies remaining. "Hmph...fun while it lasted." Those toys had eased her boredom for the time being but that was fine, there were more than enough boring things in this world to erase. She turns around to her audience and playfully curtsied to them. Spider hid his face and had half of his body turned away from the smoldering mess, in fear that a stray fireball would hit Leo. Parano was unimpressed as usual, he never gave praise or compliments to anyone as he only saw such feats of power as competition to him. "Whatever...I could of done better." Nitro gives him only a blank stare for a couple of seconds then turns to Ash on the left. "So Ash, what did you think?" "Amazing. As always." He says with a smirk, impressed both by her dancing and the flash frying of human scum. "Hmmhmm...well I'm glad you liked it." Nitro says with a smile and a nod.

Parano was getting sickened by all this complimenting and trival batter and decided to cut in. "Oh please...enough talking, MORE KILLING!" Ash and Nitro turn to their ally's yelling, his frustration clearly visible as he shook his knife-equipped fists. "Their they are! I just heard one of them!" A voice yells from nearby, the sound of what appeared to be motorcycles in the distance. "Oh great...look what your big mouth got us into." Nitro says to Parano "Like we could ever be sneaky after all those explosions we caused..." He replies back. A trio of men armed with sub-machine guns and riding attack cycles made for high-speed scout and recon missions darted towards them with. Nitro quickly responds by summoning an anti-gravity field in front of her and stops a hail of bullets in their tracks. "Time to die." She flicks her fingers and all the collected lead was shot right back at the first rider, going through his head and abdomen. The sheer mental force that propelled the lead was more than enough to rip through that supposedly bullet-proof body armor. His body flops off the bike and crashes into a pile of canisters nearby. The cycle itself skids across the pavement and crashes into the base wall.

"Damn it, we lost one!" The second rider says to his comrade "Friggin' Galerians, make 'em pay!" The third says. One aimed for Parano while the other at the leader, Ash. Cartridges eject from the automatic weapon and bullets fly towards the sadistic psychic. Parano reacts by using his two knives and quick reflexes to deflect the rounds away from, his arms moving at a speed almost impossible to keep up with. "What! Th-That's impossible! No way!" The gunner says in both surprise and horror.

Ash had dodged and shielded the cyclist's attacks and fired his own back as well. He was a fighter of some skill, if he could last a couple of seconds with the Last Galerian. Obviously more experienced than the poor sap who decided to donate his eyeballs by firing on Parano. "Enough of this." He kicks his right leg back and holds ground with his left. With his arm cocked in the air to the right, a blue light collects in his palm and three yellow spheres circle around it. He forcefully flings the yellow spheres at his target and they form into what appear to be three glowing missiles of some sort. Homing missiles to be precise. The combatant tries to outmaneuver the wave of Bustanor but it is of no use. All three of them reach their target and the cycle and it's rider die in an explosion of both fire and psychic energy.

**End of Chapter 5**


	6. Chapter 6 - Clash of Mind and Metal

**Chapter 6 - Clash of Mind and Metal**

Parano had already dealt with the third rider, as his corpse was now without eyes. There was no time to robotize his corpse but he did decide to keep his gift of sight as a trophy. "Already Parano?" Ash says, surprised that he was so quick to pilfer the dead man's sockets of their treasures. "He's just lucky he died before I could get at his eyes." Spider pulls his psychic shield down after seeing that all three cyclists were done with. He was the only one who didn't get to fight but he was happy with that. Violence was something he wasn't good at. "Well...I wonder what's next?" Nitro says, rather nonchalantly as well. In the distance, the young child can see what appeared to be four figures. "Who's that?" Spider tries to squint as Parano moves in to get a closer view. "Who the hell are they?"

Four beings outfitted in heavy-duty armor and gas masked helmets approach the Last Galerians. They are armed with six-barreled laser cannons, capable of a truly frightening rate of fire. The armor that they wore was painted a grayish black and the helmet was armed with a red visor. Ash's extensive knowledge of human military data allowed him to recognize his foes easily. They were the elite shock troopers that were reportedly killing a decent amount of his troops. The lowly Rabbit, his grunt workforce, usually would win a battle against a decently trained human soldier 3-to1, the odds were even greater if it was the one capable of employing psychic powers. However, these soldiers could easily handle a squad of Rabbits quite well. Ash wasn't too troubled however, as they had never gotten in a fight with a Last Galerian.

One of them takes aim firing his laser at Ash, who shields the attack. "So quick to attack, eh?" He continues firing upon Ash just as the other three target his comrades. After he sees a pause in his firing, Ash quickly breaks his shield and unleashes a stream of Nalcon at the armored trooper. He resists the first couple of blasts but is pushed back after the last few. "Let's see how tough that armor really is." Ash begins to charge up electrical energy in his hands, moving his palms around the lightning ball. He releases a quick moving arc of energy at the downed soldier and he is caught in it, writhing in pain as the energy courses through his body. His body ceases to move but electricity still sparks around his body.

Spider had created a large web between four communication towers and was moving around it, avoiding the black suit's hail of laser rifle. Robotic spiders jumped upon the armored man and tried to subdue him but he had either shot them or ripped them from his body and stomped or punched them. Despite them being not real, he still felt pain for each one of his destroyed friends. "Grr..." He grits his teeth in anger and places three red robotic spiders on the web he was hanging from. Legs grow from them and they get in position above their enemy. Using their webs, they lower to the soldier and suddenly ignite in fire. He catches wind of this and fires at one of them. It explodes violently, erupting flames toward him but it doesn't deter him. He easily takes out the other but he ignores a green spider that latches on to him and tries to pierce through his armor. While he wrestles this machine off of him, the third flaming spider bomb lands directly on top of him and explodes.

He is knocked back and drops his weapon in the process. The young Galerian drops from his web and lands on the ground, trying to get a look at his fallen enemy. "Did I get him?" Spider tries taking a couple of careful steps to him but the heavy trooper grabs three black spheres with red lights around the middles of them. He throws all three orbs to the child and Spider counters by summoning a large web in front of him. They stick to the threading as if they were unlucky flies and then explode with a blinding flash of light. Spider is sent flying from the force of the explosive, not quick enough to raise his shield in time. "Ugh..." He raises his head from the hard ground, holding a palm to his head. It was bleeding a little bit but it looked worse than it actually was. Flaming strands of web were falling slowly to the ground, the incendiary grenade had destroyed both webs he had formed in the battle. "Wait...where's Leo?!" He frantically pants his body for his friend but he reveals himself, crawling out from his backside to his left shoulder. "Oh! There you are...you had me worried there!"

His relief is replaced with anger as he sees his robotic spiders get destroyed one after the other by the black armored soldier. Anger starts building in the Last Galerian and he decides to give him no mercy. "Grrr...It's time you pay!" He reaches for a Skip tablet he tuckered away, never having any desire to use it until now. Skip was a powerful type of PPEC, it granted a Galerian a dramatic boost in mental power but the extra strength would cause more strain on the body. If you weren't careful, you would be Shorting in no time. He knew how risky it was to use that drug, considering how weak of a person he was, but the murderous swine had to pay for what he did to his friends. Consuming it quickly, he began to notice the increase in power almost immediately and began charging up. Just as before, he formed a green glowing ball of energy in his hands. This time, it was way larger and it's glow more intense than before. The heavy trooper turned his attention from the robots to the green light in the corner of his eyes. The ominous glowing was a signal for him to raise his gun to the child. Anger in his face, Spider forcefully threw the orb to his enemy. The soldier began firing but each red beam of light had no effect on the hurling sphere. There was no time to run away and the trooper was blasted by the charge of Spider's focused energy. He was thrown across the pavement floor and slammed his helmet against it, make a gruesome cracking noise in the process. Spider calmed himself down and collapsed in exhaustion, his fragile body and mind aching from such a powerful attack.

Parano and the soldier were locked in fierce combat, one side exchanged knife combinations and lighting strikes while the other preferred hail of laser-fire and grenades. "Ack...this guy's pretty good..." Parano thought out loud, surprised somewhat to see his prey actually fight back. Of course, this made the hunt much more worth while, he had almost wished all the humans would put up this much of a fight. He had taken cover behind some creates, waiting for the red lasers to stop firing. He grew tired of waiting however and jumped right into the thick of it. He zigged and zagged effortlessly through the stream of red energy. Reaching into his knife belt wrapped around his chest, Parano rips out three small and thin knives with gloved hands and charges them with electricity. With inhuman speed, he throws the blades to his adversary, two hitting both kneecaps and one hitting his right shoulder. The man cries out in pain, his helmet muffling his voice slightly. Despite energy shooting through his body, he manages to catch and hold Parano's arm in place. The Galerian looked surprised that he countered his reflexes, he tried to the force his knife through the man's visor and into his head. If he was lucky he would hit one of his eyes. With his free hand, he rips one knife from the holster to the back of his boot and rams in to his side but that too, is held off.

"What!?" Both times this human had countered his attacks, desperately fighting to stay alive. No human had ever lasted this long in a close quarters fight with Parano, he would definitely be remembered for his zeal by his comrades. That is, of course, if he ever returned alive. "Oh, you son of a..." Parano said through gritted, pointed teeth, anger intensifying as this worthless being struggled to deny the ineviatable. After so many seconds Parano never cared to count, he gave into his monstrous rage and reacted on an impulse. He revealed his terrifying fangs and chomped down hard on the human's neck.

The sheer force of rage at his opponent and the desire to end his life was more than enough to rip through his tough armor, To anyone else, biting through metal would seem like something an insane person would do. However, Parano's teeth were as strong as they were horrifying. He breaks through his armor and through whatever other fabrics were beneath it and meets fangs with flesh. Parano severs the man's jugular vein and tastes his life blood on his tongue. It was exquisite, much more flavorful coming from a man who fought so hard to live, just as wine did with age. His intent wasn't to feast but to kill as Parano restrains himself and brutally rips his mouth out from his throat, blood flying out onto the ground. Awful noises escape from the victims mouth as he tries to stop the geyser of fluids with his hands. It is of no avail as the man dies in a pool of his own blood. Parano watches as he gasps his last breathes of life and does nothing but smile with blood-covered lips. "Hehehehehehe..."

**End of Chapter 6**


	7. Chapter 7 - Agony and Serenity

**Chapter 7 - Agony and Serenity_  
_**

_"This is so boring..." _Nitro thought in her head as she flew through the air avoiding his futile attempts to swat her down with his gun. Her arms were crossed of course, not taking him seriously at all. _"Okay, I'm tired of this..." _Nitro ascends higher in the air and holds both arms out, summoning five huge fireballs around her. Still with a bored expression she orders her flares down towards her target, directing them with her arms as if she was an orchestra conductor. The vicious woman laughs at the poor soul as he evades the flaming impacts of her pyrokinesis, each time narrowly avoiding certain death. As the last one finishes it's descent, Nitro lowers herself to the floor. The woman was thinking of just simply teleporting behind the man and lighting him up like a candle, but that wouldn't be fun at all. _"Not yet..." _The psychic conjures six flaming spheres that encircle her and grabs one of them in her hand. She holds her hand out in front her face and blows the flame towards him, comparable to a girl blowing a kiss to her lover. That flame turned into a wave of fire across the ground that initially is not too large but quickly grows into a tsunami of deadly heat. He stops firing his weapon and narrowly escapes her wave of fire.

"What an idiot." she says, not at all surprised with his futile tactics. That heavy armor and gun meant nothing, at the end of the day he was still an idiot who thought he could fight against her. Nitro silently laughs to herself, the whole idea of a human being an equal match to a Galerian was all so laughable. She then preforms a cartwheel and releases a stream of fire from her extended hand. It mercilessly homed in on the soldier and coated him with flames. It didn't stop there, as it turned to it's left to strike him again and then to it's right for another one. It constantly ripped through him as if it was a living serpent. Because of his armor suit, the fire didn't have too much of an effect on him but it had obscured his vision as he tried to pat the flames down. Nitro teleported in closer and then ran up to her enemy. With her heels ablaze, she then began to dull out multiple kicks to various parts of his body. Her strong legs were more than capable to knock him back and bruise him through his armor. Each slam of her legs were accompanied by white-hot embers that sparkled all around. Nitro's area of expertise was long range fighting and underhanded sabotage, but this did not mean she was incapable of direct confrontation. It was true that someone like Ash was probably better for this because of his extensive knowledge on many fighting styles, but she could definitely hold her own with her dance-inspired skills.

He was given no chance to attack back, her steel heels had left him dazed and in pain. "Still standing, huh?" Nitro says. She had played with her toy long enough but now it was time to put it away. "Playtime is over." Fire stirs in her black gloved hands and they extend into what appeared to be two long, glowing whips of fire. "Time for your lashes!" With a malicious smile on her face, she rips into him with her self-made tools of destruction. Each blow landing with tremendous force, causing him to cry out in pain. Each of her movements are elegant in both start and execution, as if she was dancing. Nitro laughs in a delighted tone, pleased with all the pain and destruction she is causing. She loved destruction, the whole act of destroying the many boring things in the world kept her from thinking of the horrid world she existed in. Her victim now laid on the floor apparently motionless, flames eating away at his body, his suit covered with open holes from her flaming whips. The fires of battle were dying down and Nitro turns away from her victim, a bit disappointed that she didn't have anyone else to set on fire. However, he was not completely dead as he reached for his laser cannon to his side and raised it to the woman's back. With her psychic abilities, she saw the attack coming, turned and quickly shielded herself.

"Oh, oh oh...you _just_ won't die, will you?" His stream of laser fire never halted and Nitro simply shrugged off the attack with her shield. However, Nitro began to feel a sudden, shooting pain in her head. "Argh...what the-" She quickly realized that the mental stress of all the previous fighting and the prolonging shield against her opponent's attack was causing her to short circuit. "Damn it! Not now...Ahh!" Nitro was very resistant to pain and she simply ignored it but even she had her limits. "AHHHHH!" With a furious scream, she grips her throbbing head with both hands as she glows in a fiery scarlet. Even with her shield gone, the excess amount of psychic energy shooting out from her body repels the lasers with no effort at all. Holding her head in excruciating agony, Nitro eyed the man with intense rage and he was instantly incinerated into nothing but ashes. With her enemy truly annihilated, Nitro tries to reach for a Delmetor capsule in her side pack but is hit with another wave of pain, causing her to drop to the floor in agony. "Nitro!" Her screams and the bright red aura that surrounded her catches the attention of Ash, quickly rushing to her aid. To a human, getting close to a shorting Galerian is suicide, as the uncontrollable mental energy would usually cause their heads to explode in a gory mess, but another Galerian is immune to this misdirected use of energy.

He falls to the floor beside her and brings her head above the ground, cradling her head in his arms. "The pain...it's too much!" Nitro says in a pained voice. Shorting hurt like hell, no matter how strong you were. "Be calm Nitro, this will only take a second..." Ash says to her, soothing her mind. With his free hand, he reaches into his belt for a Delmetor and slips it into her mouth. She quickly swallows the medicine as Ash runs his hand across her head to comfort her. The scarlet glow around her body fades and her fever appears to drop.

As the leader relaxes her and the medicine begins to take effect, Nitro thinks to herself. _"The pain is too much? Did I REALLY just say that? Agh...that sounded so...weak." _She was embarrassed at herself, how she could submit to pain so easily. It was even worse that it was him that saw her in such a weakened state._ "Right in front of Ash as well...just perfect!" _Her face is away from his - partly in shame and partly in pain. Nitro had hoped he wouldn't look down at her even though he understood what it was like to short. But that should've never happened in the first place _"Reckless and stupid. Why didn't I check to see if that scum was truly dead? Why did I wait so long to take a Delmetor?"_

She grimaced in shame, her closed eyes open partly and Nitro turns to face Ash. Their gazes meet and she is pleased to have him by her side. She notices the touch of his fingers across her face - how they were battle hardened but still retained gentleness to them. Ash's warmness is surprising as well, considering his generally cold and methodical exterior. _"Am I enjoying this? This is that feeling again, isn't?" _That odd feeling from before, she wondered how she should feel right now - if she should accept it or not. _"It doesn't hurt..." _Nitro suddenly thinks of meeting her gloved hand against his face, to caress him pleasingly as he did to her. This feeling of being cradled in his arms, of his flesh connecting with hers was a beautiful and mysterious thing._ "Ash...I didn't know you could make me feel this way, that I could feel this way..."_ She hungered for more of this, practically starved for it as well. This feeling was such an amazing thing to experience. _"Why do I feel this way?" _Noticing an impulse in her hand, it screams at Nitro to reach up to Ash. But she doesn't listen to it, all of this was happening so fast the fire weaver didn't know how to react. Instead, she smiles serenely at him - casting any pain and embarrassment aside.

"Nitro, are you alright?" Ash asks the woman. Still regaining herself somewhat, she looks into the man's amber eyes and begins to speak. "Yeah...I'm fine." She was still breathing heavily and her face looked exhausted. Spider and Parano walk up to the two, one in worry and the other not so much. "Nitro, are you okay!?" Spider says with concern in both voice and expression. "Don't worry about me Spider...I'm okay." Nitro says with a little more strength than last time. "She just had a nasty short is all. She'll be alright." Ash says, over viewing the previous situation to the other two. Parano simply looked, having nothing good to say at all. "Can you stand?" Ash said. "Of course, I'm not THAT weak..." She began to stand up with the aid of the silver-haired Galerian. Nitro was prideful, but didn't mind grabbing on to Ash to regain her balance. "Nothing I'm not familiar with however..." Nitro says with hand to her head, remembering that painful experience not too long ago.

"So..." Parano says, looking at all the corpses, flames, and torn up concrete. "...are we done here?" Ash looks around at all the carnage they had caused, the base mostly demolished during the attack. "Looks like we got must of them." Then, a shaking and the moving of machinery can be heard in the distance. They all look around the source of the noise to no avail. "Oh, what now?!" Spider says, really not wanting to get in another fight. Breaking through a closed gate fence, a heavy armored tank appears before the Last Galerians. "You gotta be kidding me..." Nitro says, really not in the mood to fight a tank after just shorting out. "OH COME ON!" Parano yells in frustration.

Just then, a huge, roaring, purple being breaks through the base wall. "RRRAAAGGGGHHH" With an ear-splitting roar, the Mugant easily pushes the tank aside effortlessly. It flips over in the process, unable to aim it's cannon. He is not alone, as another giant beast rips through the wall, making way for smaller armored soldiers with claws on their arms to swarm the base. "Couldn't of come at a better time!" Ash says, pleased that they didn't have to deal with a whole tank division. A hover personal carrier appears in front of the four Galerians and lets the door down to reveal a squad of Rabbits that quickly get to work on dealing with the remnant forces of the base. "Time to go home." Ash says. The four enter the interior of the vehicle, filled with advanced technology years ahead of the humans'. As the three take their seats inside the APC, Ash gives the order to the Rabbit piloting the vehicle. "Back to base." He complies without question as he was programmed to do. It turns around and exits the base through the collapsed wall, leaving the rest of the mission to be handled by Ash's forces and returns the Last Galerians to the only thing that can be considered a home, the uranium refinery.

**End of Chapter 7**


	8. Chapter 8 - Aftermath

**Summary:** This chapter wasn't really as serious as the other ones, that is if they seemed serious. I like to have my stories/games/media have some humor and non-seriousness throughout as seen in the interactions between the Last Galerians. It is a rather silly chapter I must admit, but regardless, I hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 8 - Aftermath**

It was rather late and the four psychics had since returned to the uranium refinery. A few hours ago, the Last Galerians had just accomplished another mission in their crusade against the human dogs. To celebrate the destruction of an important field base and the claiming of a previously human-controlled territory, Ash had decided to personally prepare a human dish for all of them to enjoy. He had also learned culinary skills during his studies on the human race, a trait that seemed useless to him as all he really ate was uranium. The three Last Galerians sit together on a large, metallic table within the dinning room specifically reserved for their use only. They had been called there by Ash for an undisclosed reason. "I wonder why Ash wanted us all here." Spider pondered out loud. "Well, I wished he'd hurry up! I was in the middle of something..." Parano sat with his head resting on his arm, annoyed that his superior had pulled him from tinkering with his cyborgs. Nitro simply sat with her arms crossed, having no comment of her own, having no real expression on her face as always.

The metal double-doors slide open and Ash finally appears to welcome his allies. "You're all here. After such a successful mission today, I feel that we all deserve to celebrate." Ash turns away from the Galerians and turns to the open door behind him. "Rabbits!" On command, four Rabbits appear into the room with each one holding a large, covered, circular plate in their hands. They hand out the mysterious food dishes to the Last Galerians and the last one places his in front of an empty seat, the one that belonged to Ash. "That is all." Ash orders the Rabbits and they quickly walk out of the dinning room to whatever task they had next. The silver-haired leader takes his seat and notices that none of the comrades have touched their plates. "Well? Open it." Spider is the first to unveil his plate, then Nitro, and finally Parano. "Isn't this..." Nitro says, slightly caught by surprise. "Pizza?" Spider says, finishing her sentence. Parano was still too busy scanning the condiments on his own. "Not just any pizza." Ash says. "Look at what's on it."

Spider gives a closer look and notices the pepperoni looks like spade-shaped spiders, the same symbol that adorns his outfit. "Spider shaped pepperoni? Ha, ha! That's pretty cool!" Parano had already bitten into his first slice, savoring the soft multi-colored eyeballs and the blood that replaced the tomato sauce. He had a pleased look on his face as he chewed loudly with his mouth open, not having much manners at all. Nitro glanced at him with disgust before turning her head to the food in front of her._ "Well what do we have here?" _She thought, raising one eyebrow in surprise at Ash's creativity. On top of the pie where many different kinds of peppers, each of them known to be incredibly spicy to the tongue. _"Such a trivial thing...and he remembered it?" _Nitro didn't expect for Ash to memorize her preference towards spicy food. It was not just spicy, she liked her food so overwhelmingly hot that if anyone else would have had a taste of one her preferred meals, they would lose the feeling in their mouth for weeks. But Nitro was so indifferent to pain that she welcomed the burning on her palate with open arms. The painful sensation gave her the feeling that she was alive and that pain helped keep her mind away from the boring world she refused to believe in. As she bites into a slice and begins chewing, Nitro is hit with a powerful burning sensation, almost as if her mouth itself was on fire.

"I assume you are all pleased? I hope so, I prepared it all myself." Nitro looked to the man sitting exactly across from her, having already swallowed her food. "_You_ made this yourself?" Nitro was already surprised with a meal tailored to her liking, but the fact that he made it himself and that he preformed an act that was completely unnecessary had impressed her. His sudden altruism made her feel special and that strange feeling returned once more.

Nitro wasn't used to doing good things for other people, her views on the world made such things seem futile. _"Hope...life...the world. All boring, all worthless." _Nitro thought. _"What's the point of do anything for anybody in such a miserable existence?" _She was used to never caring about anything but when he had remembered what food she liked and when he had helped her during her short, that joyous feeling always followed. _"Then why do I keep getting such a strong feeling for?" _Things like this shouldn't cause this type of reaction, not to Nitro. "_Heh..." _she thinks. _"...It's almost as if I cared.."_ Then she paused for a second or two. _"Wait..." _Another feeling takes over her, just as unexplainable as the last one. She wanted to say it felt like what fear and nervousness was supposed to be like. _"No...that's not it." _Nitro never feared anything and had nothing to be nervous over. Such things were frivolous in the end. It wasn't a bad feeling, it was more startling than anything. _"If not that then...what is this? Why is this so hard to understand?"_ Nitro had no answer to her questions, only the way Ash made her feel.

"Thanks Ash! It's tastes great!" Spider says with happiness, feeling special that Ash bothered to do this for them. Parano had no words as he was still devouring his food like the savage beast that he was. He stops for a second to see Spider looking at him, as if he was waiting for something. "What?" It took him a few seconds but then he realized what the child wanted. "Yeah...Ash...It's tastes...good." Parano says, not looking at Ash directly. He really hated saying anything good about anybody, especially Ash of all people. "But Ash...what about yours?" Spider says to him, his plate being the only one that's still covered.

Ash looks to Spider and then to his plate. "Oh, right." He removes it to reveal a plain, cheese pizza with nothing on it all. Spider looks over from his seat at Ash's pizza to see it completely bare. "That's it?" Ash smirks and reaches down to something on his side. "Not for long..." He brings a cylinder shaped container with "92 U" labeled on it. Ash undoes the complicated lock on the it and a bright, pale yellow glow escapes from it. "Ah, uranium...the life blood of the atomic bomb, one of the most valuable resources in our army...and now a condiment for food." Ash sprinkles the toxic substance all over the pizza, giving it that radioactive glow that Ash loved so much. Nitro simply looks at him with her chin rested on her palm, amusingly watching with a smirk as he finishes his seasoning and bringing a glowing slice to his lips. "What?"

**End of Chapter 8**


	9. Chapter 9 - Pursuit of Desires

**Summary:** Final chapter here, reader. If you ever bothered to read through all of this - let alone just click on the story to skim through it - I thank you. This last part is pretty much entirely dedicated to AshxNitro and I apologize if anyone acted out of character thus far (my experience in romantic fanfics is rather limited) and if things that they do don't make much sense. But then what fun would games be if everything made perfect sense?_  
_

__**Chapter 12 - Pursuit of Desires**

_"I can't believe I'm doing this..." _Nitro thought to herself as she walked through the cold, empty corridors of the refinery, the sound of her heels against the metal floor._ "This is so unlike me."_

The Last Galerian couldn't sleep, she merely sat up in her bed thinking about the events that happened before. Thinking about all the new things Ash made her feel. Sitting there, Nitro wrapped herself in her own arms and closed her eyes; enjoying this warmth. _"This feels so...mmm..." _She couldn't find a reason, not yet. Nitro found this experience pleasurable but wasn't sure if it was right to continue feeling this way. Afterall, who's to say if this was real or if it was even worth pursuing? The moonlight shines upon her, the only light in the dark chamber that was her room. Just like her personality, it was dark and lifeless. Almost everything was of the color black, the prefered color of her hair and wardrobe. It was even the color of her eyes.

Nitro opens her eyes and brushes raven locks from her sights; she stares at her legs and then to her feet. Her stockings covered them by her shoes were absent. It was her relaxing time afterall, it was no good to be on your feet all day; even though such minor pain unphased the hardened warrior. Her sights then turn to the inside of her room absently. Her mind was focused on Ash and the feeling she decided to cling on to, instead of abandon as she usually did. Before, it had just came and gone; never giving much thought to it. All of her thoughts were to him and she began to think of the man. His eyes, his voice, the way he smites all those boring humans. "Ahh...beautiful." She says out loud, putting her hands to her lips. Even his hair, Nitro loved how his silverish-white hair contrasted with hers. _"Black and white...how fitting." _Nitro thinks to herself. _"Well, actually black and silver but close enough..."_

All this thinking about this steel-clad person caused her to eventually slip her heels back on and go through with something the humans were quite fond of. The entire concept of it was ridiculous and it was something she often mocked. As she stands in front of the door that lead's to Ash's room, she readies her hand. _"Well I've come this far..."_

Ash was in his living quarters, their celebratory meal was over and it was rather late. He wasn't completely used to sleeping in a bed, much less moving about in a flesh and blood human body. The Last Galerians and him had often used human vessels to get around outside cyberspace, where their true forms lied. Their bodies were true to the AIs' appearances and psychic abilities. It was very convenient as it essentially gave them immortality in the human world, for if their bodies were destroyed a new one could simply be made it their place. For so long, he had pined for a real body, one that can breath oxygen and feel the touch of H2O. It did feel good to experience all those things, but nothing could compare to the eternity of the virtual world.

He stood there in front of his desk, playing with his pistol that he didn't get a chance to use today. It was made to rip data straight from virtual targets and pierce through the weak flesh of real ones. Looking at it with admiration, it was a true work of art and made in a way that was impossible for humans to use because it only responded to the natural psychic energy that Galerians possessed. Then out of nowhere, there were two knocks at his door. "Huh?" Ash gets up from his chair with his weapon still in hand, not that he expected any one to ambush him. He opened the door to see a black haired woman with her locks covering a good part of her face. "Nitro?" "Hey, Ash...what are you up to?" It was late and he wondered what Nitro could possibly want. "Nothing really. I was just adjusting my weapon." He brought the gun up between the two, switching his eyes from the metal contraption to Nitro's dark eyes. "Nice gun." she says.

"So, what do you need?" Ash asks her. "Nothing really...I was just bored, as always." She enters Ash's room in a casual walk, completely ignoring the fact that she didn't have permission. Not that Ash had too much of a problem with that, it's not like it was Parano or something. Arms crossed she looks over his room, organized very nicely and kind of sterile, not having much decorations and mostly having only what is necessary. The bed was kept tidy, the shelves weren't cramped, desk never cluttered. Everything was either silver or white. "I wasn't tired yet and I decided to see what you were up too." Nitro turns to the man with her hair moving from one half of her face to the other. Ash inspects her face and notices that she has an odd expression, like she was hiding something or there was more to her visit. The leader grows inquisitive but says nothing.

"Ash...I wanted to say thank you helping me out earlier." Nitro was not used to such a long admission of gratitude, the most she usually gave was 'thanks'. She wasn't seriously rude on purpose, at least not to anyone who deserved it, but it was out of sheer inexperience in sincerity; her general lack of enthusiasm for most things was to blame. "You don't have to say thank you, Nitro. We're partners, we look out for each other." Ash says to the woman. "Yeah...right." Nitro nods slightly and flashes a small smile in return. His comrade looks down to the metal surface and begins talking again. "Actually...there's another reason I'm here." Nitro says. "Why?"

"Well..."Nitro begins to slowly walk up to Ash, her face away to the ground as before. She stops in front of Ash and lifts her head to meet piercing, amber irises with dead, obsidian ones. Nitro admired his eyes for a second. They radiated power and intellect. Just as their hairs were of both bright and dark colors respectively, so were their eyes. "I was wondering what you're doing tomorrow."

"What I was doing tomorrow?" Ash thought. She already knew there were no missions planned for them so why would she ask such a silly question. "Nothing, of course. You already know that." She giggles to herself, amused by his naivety. "I know that Ash." "Then why would you ask?" He eyes her with suspicion as Nitro covers her mouth with her gloved hand. "Because I thought we could...do something tomorrow, together."

"_Do_ something? You want to help me manage the refinery?" Giggles again, he still hasn't caught on. Although she expected that, Ash had studied humans but hasn't lived as one. But then again, neither had she. "No, not that. I was thinking something we could do...alone. _In private_."

"In private?" Nitro's questions were growing more and more strange, he had wished she had just told him what she wanted. "Right. Just the two the us." Nitro's voice is obvious to what she was thinking but Ash couldn't catch it .

He stood there with no expression, still in the dark. She giggles for a third time. "You still haven't caught on?" She walks up even closer to the man, any closer and her silver lips would meet with his. "How about a date?" Ash is caught by surprise. "A date? Are you serious? Why?" "Well, why not? We don't really have enough time off, you most especially. Besides, it'll be fun." After hearing his reasons, he speaks again. "Nitro...is this really the time? We ARE in a war, afterall." Nitro merely rolls her eyes. "_Please_...you call this a war? You're giving them too much credit..."

All of Ash's studies on the human race had mostly been for his inevitable conflict with them. His studies told him that a date was a form of outing between two humans in the hopes of a romantic relationship. He had never thought Nitro would've desired something like that with him. "I haven't been with anyone. Ever. Not that I wanted too, humans disgust me." "Well, I'm not human Ash. I'm a Galerian. We're both Galerians." Ash looked down and pondered her offer, he had never looked at her in that way. Nor did he have any form of need or interest in romance. It wasn't that he found her unappealing, she was obviously attractive - physically and mentally. "Hmm...I never expected something like this from you, Nitro. I thought you didn't care about anything." Nitro unfolds her arms with one arm to the side. "Well, not everything. I don't really mind you. Spider's okay I suppose...kinda weak though. But Parano..." Ash stares off to the side, thinking of all the problems Parano causes the group. "Tell me about it..."

"So how about it, Ash?" He took his hand to his chin and thought about it one last time. He did wanted to taste the air, and touch water. Perhaps he could try his hand at this human ritual? "Alright. I'll do it." Her mouth widens slightly into a smile. "Good, then. I'll see you in the morning." Ash ends it with a nod and Nitro leaves the room to retreat to her own. As he watches her leave and the door close, he realizes something._ "Where would we go? When should I pick her up. Should I bring her something? Flowers? Would Nitro even care for that? An even greater question is that why would she even want to go out on a date? Was this one of her games?" _She was a tricky person but he was sure she wouldn't lead him on like this. "No, she wouldn't do that." Ash says to himself out loud. Was this how she truly felt, what she hid from everyone else? Of all the Galerians, Ash knew the least about Nitro. Spider's kindness and weakness was obvious, Parano's rage and intense dislike of Ash was very obvious, but Nitro was near unreadable. Or maybe it was him. She was constantly bored and was apathetic. An apathetic person wouldn't be interested in others, would they? Or maybe there is more to her than he thought. So many questions swirled in his head and the long battle in the base had made him tried. "I'll deal with this in the morning."

He presses his fingers against his weary eyes and moves to the bed. He reaches for a canister of depleted waste uranium on the nightstand and brings a handful to his mouth, a midnight snack to keep hunger at bay during the night. Putting it back near the lamp where it belonged, Ash lays right in the bed, complete with no sheets at all. The night air had no effect on the temperature resistant Galerian body. With his head on the pillow, Ash closes his eyes and thinks to himself. He didn't even bother to undo his fusion suit, the armor that was like a second skin. Almost all the time in the virtual world was spent with it on, and now in the real world he still walked around with it on. The man hadn't even bothered to think of it as uncomfortable. "Heh." Ash finds humor in the thought and then slowly drifts into sleep. This date was for tomorrow, but for now - rest.

**The End**


End file.
